A screen goes through a handful of stages, from the day you set it up to the day you retire it. Knowing them makes it easy to tell what any screen is doing at a glance.
Coming online
A screen begins when you link a display to your workspace. From then on the two are paired: the device knows which workspace it belongs to, and your dashboard knows the device.
Once it checks in, the screen shows as online, and you can start working with it.
Getting content
An online screen has nothing to show until you give it something. Once you assign content, it pulls that down and starts playing.
From here, the screen is doing its job: showing the right thing at the right time.
Day to day
While a screen is running, two states tell you it is healthy:
- Online or offline, meaning whether the screen is currently reaching Screenly.
- In sync or out of sync, meaning whether it has the latest content you assigned.
A screen that is online and in sync is showing exactly what you intended. If it loses its connection for a while, it keeps playing what it already has and catches up once it is back.
Retiring a screen
When a display is no longer needed, you retire its screen. Your workspace then reflects what is really out in the world, with nothing lingering that you no longer use.